This paper documents a shift in the nature of innovation in the information technology (IT) industry. Using comprehensive data on all IT patents granted by the USPTO from 1983-2004, we find strong evidence of a change in IT innovation that is systematic, substantial, and increasingly dependent...

Division of labor has benefits in addition to the direct productivity increases from specialization: In this paper we study how the development of specialized upstream technology suppliers improves access and lowers investment costs for latecomer downstream firms. Using a simple model, we test...

This chapter reviews the growing literature on the “market for technology,” a broad term that denotes trade in technology disembodied from physical goods. The market for technology flourished during the nineteenth century in the United States. After several decades of relative decline, the...

Drawing on their previous book-length study published in 2000, the authors examine the nature and functioning of markets for technology, namely markets for intermediate technological inputs, as well as their implications for business and public policy. Markets for technology are not easy to...